Sick and alone

Remember those miserable moments of childhood when you were covered in chicken pox, your body racked with body aches that left you tossing and turning searching for relief, your thoughts confused and hazy with a high fever? Do you look back and see where comfort and relief came from?  Your mom or dad or grandparent sat with you, cold rag on your head, oatmeal baths, Tylenol and pain medication, the soothing voice of your covering reassuring you it would be ok. Do you remember taking your blanket and pillow onto the couch, distracting yourself from the pain and itchy skin by watching your favorite cartoon or movie, an endless supply of Popsicles or ice cream and  new art supplies to keep you busy as you laid in your warm house with your mom just a holler away?

I hated being sick as a child. It was overwhelming, scary, and miserable, but comfort was always there. In the past month, 17 boys at the orphanage my sons reside, have been sick with chicken pox or some other kind of sickness. Over 250 boys ages 6-20 live there.  When they are sick, they suffer not only from very little medical help, but have no one they can call out to to bring comfort. It's the rainy season, so their dorms are damp and cold at night, there's nowhere to find quiet as hundreds of boys run in and out of the dorms. They have no one to put a cold cloth on their head, no one to give them a Popsicle, no one to cover them up and make sure they are warm. No soothing voice of a mama, telling them they are going to be ok.

Lately, I have watched many of the boys who have been sick post on Facebook, "please pray for me! I am very sick!" They reach through technology to the group moms who love them from afar. Kolfe Moms are a breed all their own. Stubbornly loving and advocating for a group of boys labeled "the forgotten boys" of Ethiopia. We all shower them with comments of prayers and hope, but its not the same. Laying down on their bunkbed, body aching and fever raging, they need more. They need what only comes from Gods beautiful creation called "family". They need a mom and dad.

Sitting here in my recliner, my feet up, watching tv and blogging my thoughts, I feel a righteous anger building up within me. This should not be!  No child should be sick and alone, no child should long for comfort and find none. I recently talked to my sons about them being sick and told them how sorry I was that I could not be there for them. As usual, they politely responded, "Its ok, Mom. All is fine now. Don't worry." And in the very next breath, they say, "When are you coming to get us?"   My sons can verbalize their need for us to come for them, but many of them cannot. They don't see any hope in their future for a family. The majority of the boys of Kolfe will never realize the feeling of belonging to a family. They will live through many of life's hardships alone.

Adoption, especially internationally, is expensive,  It's costly in many ways, but there's nothing else I I'd rather spend my life doing them giving children the comfort and security and love of a family. They deserve that. God wants that for every single one of them. I am consumed for their plight.  Adoption isn't the only answer, but one of many, but for me, it's what God has called me to do. What has God called you to do for those children who suffer silently, longing for comfort and family and protection.  Everyone should do something. Help fund adoptions, sponsor a child, give to a missionary who is helping children on the streets (All-Out Ministries, Bring Love In), adopt a child and see your life changed forever!

My sons will soon be home, never to be alone again. We need prayer and support to get to that final place and we know God will provide. But there are hundreds we will walk away from at Kolfe who will lay their head down another night alone. This should not be the case. We have more than enough resources and room in our lives to help every single one of them. What can you do?